Observations and reflections from Tibor R. Machan, professor of business ethics and writer on general and political philosophy, now teaching at Chapman University in Orange, CA.

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Column on Promoting RIght Conduct the Right Way

Promoting Right Conduct?the Right Way

Tibor R. Machan

Most of the time people try to justify coercing others to do things onthe grounds that they know what?s right and those others don?t or, in anycase, will not comply. Even the recent 5 to 4 eminent domain ruling by theUS Supreme Court can be viewed along such lines: The city officialsbelieved they knew what the private property owners ought to do and sothey may make them do it. In that particular case, economic development issupposed to be right and good, so let?s make those property owners bend tothe will of those who understand this. Ergo, eminent domain which,although the US Constitution authorizes it only for taking privateproperty for public use, is now authorized for takings transferred toprivate parties who will do ?the right thing? (e.g., develop land and paymore taxes to the city).

Never mind that most often those claiming such knowledge do not actuallyhave it. Even if they do, this is just the sort of barbaric approach tomaking people do the right thing that was to be stopped by deploying theprinciples of the US Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

If you know what the right thing is for someone to do, you may not coercehim, you need to convince him of it, you need his consent. That?s becausewe all have the unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit ofhappiness. And having a right means one who has it gets to decide how toexercise it. And that may not always conform to high standards. (Justthink of the right of the free press?doesn?t mean all journalists producethe best stuff they could. Indeed it means lots of them produce drivel.)

But if one is not supposed to coerce people to do the right thing, whatis one to do about all the misbehavior that surrounds us? Well, the answeris one must use civilized means. Eminent domain measures are barbaricmeans?taking from people to give to other people without the permission ofthe former. Imagine if one took this message of the Court to heart andproceeded to run around one?s neighborhood bullying everyone who doesn?tbehave up to snuff to do the right thing. That?s what violent gangspresume to do!

Civilized conduct requires that one promote the right conduct of otherpeople not by coercion but by persuasion, example, instruction, urging,imploring, and, at worst, ostracism and boycott. Human beings, in short,must deal with fellow human beings peacefully even if those others don?tdo the right thing. Unless someone is aggressive towards another, whateverwrong he or she does must be approached peacefully. That is what amountsto civil conduct, as distinct from the behavior of brutes in the wild thatsubdue one another violently.

But why abstain from such brutishness when it comes to people dealingwith other people? Is that just a quirk or is it required somehow fromhuman beings?

Most generally, if one makes other people do the right thing withouttheir consent, these other people are deprived of their chance to earnmoral credit, deprived of their dignity. They are treated as mere puppets,as little children, not as adults who need to make their own decisions soas to be morally praiseworthy, commendable. The reason animals mayordinarily be forced to behave as we want them to behave is that they arebeasts without a moral sense?and even then it is nicer to manage themgently instead of roughly. But with human beings it is imperative thatthey aren?t pushed around, aren?t forcibly made to do the right thing.

Even with kids, as they grow older it is more appropriate to provide themwith good examples of decent behavior instead of browbeating them. That ishow understanding of what?s right is promoted, rather than merecompliance, mere following orders out of fear (which then tends to producerebellion a the first chance anyway). Sending out the cops to have peopledo the right thing is the wrong way to act. Making laws and regulationsthat must be followed lest one go to jail is not how morality is promotedamong people.

It is one of the most revolutionary aspects of the American politicaltradition that this lesson was given official expression by the Founders.By now, however, America?s political leaders have nearly completelyforgotten it all. Now they resort to the same regimentation of otherpeople that they had rejected on the part of the likes of King George the3rd. It is time to regain the momentum the Founders unleashed and promoteright conduct the right way?peacefully.